Control aerial movement of drone based on line-of-sight of humans using devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10816976-B2
Application number	US-201515739589-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 24, 2015
Priority date	Jun 24, 2015
Publication date	Oct 27, 2020
Grant date	Oct 27, 2020

Abstract

Examples disclosed herein relate to control of a drone. In one example, aerial movement of the drone is controlled. In the example, it is determined, based on a plurality of devices, whether the drone is within a line-of-sight with at least a respective one of a plurality of humans within a physical proximity to a respective one of a the devices. In the example, the devices are used by the drone to track the humans. In the example, when the drone is determined to lack the line-of-sight, aerial movement of the drone is controlled to move the drone to become within the line-of-sight.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A drone comprising:
a navigation engine to control aerial movement of the drone;
a line-of-sight engine to determine, based on a plurality of devices, whether the drone is within a line-of-sight with at least a respective one of a plurality of humans within a physical proximity to a respective one of the plurality of devices,
wherein the devices are used by the drone to track the humans, and
wherein when the drone is determined to lack the line-of-sight, the navigation engine is further to control the aerial movement of the drone to become within the line-of-sight; and
an alert engine to recognize the respective one of the plurality of devices is not within the physical proximity of the respective human,
wherein the navigation engine controls the aerial movement of the drone towards a location of the respective one of the plurality of devices based on recognition that the respective one of the plurality of devices is not within the physical proximity of the respective human.

2. The drone of claim 1 , further comprising:
a rule specifying when the drone is not within the line-of-sight, wherein the determination is based on the rule.

3. The drone of claim 2 , further comprising:
a location engine to determine a first location of the drone and a second location of the at least one of the devices,
wherein the rule indicates a distance criteria between the first location and the second location; and
wherein the line-of-sight determination is further based on the distance criteria, the first location, and the second location.

4. The drone of claim 3 , further comprising:
a sensor to target the second location to confirm the lack of the line-of-sight for the lack of line-of-sight determination.

5. The drone of claim 3 , wherein the second location is determined based on at least one of: a radio frequency signal, global positioning system information, and an optical sensor.

6. The drone of claim 3 , wherein the devices are wearable devices located on the respective human.

7. The drone of claim 6 , further comprising:
a second rule specifying boundary criteria for the respective one of the plurality of devices; and
a tracking engine to track whether the second location meets the boundary criteria,
wherein the navigation engine is further to control the aerial movement of the drone to move towards the respective one of the plurality of devices based on the tracking.

8. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing instructions that, if executed by at least one processor of a drone, cause the drone to:
control aerial movement of the drone throughout an area;
determine whether the drone is within a line-of-sight with at least one of a plurality of humans each respectively within a physical proximity to a respective one of a plurality of wearable devices;
determine that the drone is within a buffer distance, from a first one of the plurality of wearable devices, indicative of a possible lack of the line-of-sight from the first one of the plurality of wearable devices and lacks the line-of-sight with others of the plurality of wearable devices;
recognize the first one of the plurality of wearable devices is not within the physical proximity of the respective human; and
control aerial movement of the drone towards the first one of the plurality of wearable devices based on recognition that the respective one of the plurality of wearable devices is not within the physical proximity of the respective human.

9. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 8 , further comprising instructions that, if executed by the at least one processor, cause the drone to:
select a second one of the plurality of wearable devices based on a triggered rule;
determine a location of the second one of the plurality of wearable devices; and
control aerial movement of the drone towards the second one of the plurality of wearable devices.

10. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 9 , further comprising instructions that, if executed by the at least one processor, cause the drone to:
send an alert based on the triggered rule.

11. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 10 , further comprising instructions that, if executed by the at least one processor, cause the drone to:
follow the second one of the plurality of wearable devices until a manual control signal is received from a control device.

12. A method for a drone, the method comprising:
controlling aerial movement of the drone;
determining, based on a plurality of devices, whether the drone is within a line-of-sight with at least a respective one of a plurality of humans within a physical proximity to a respective one of the plurality of devices;
wherein the devices are used by the drone to track the humans;
when the drone is determined to lack the line-of-sight, controlling the aerial movement of the drone to become within the line-of-sight;
recognizing the respective one of the plurality of devices is not within the physical proximity of the respective human; and
controlling the aerial movement of the drone towards a location of the respective one of the plurality of devices based on recognition that the respective one of the plurality of devices is not within the physical proximity of the respective human.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein determining whether the drone is within the line-of-sight is based on a rule specifying when the drone is not within the line-of-sight.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
determining a first location of the drone and a second location of the at least one of the devices,
wherein the rule indicates a distance criteria between the first location and the second location; and
wherein determining whether the drone is within the line-of-sight is further based on the distance criteria, the first location, and the second location.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
targeting the second location with a sensor to confirm the lack of the line-of-sight for the lack of line-of-sight determination.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the second location is determined based on at least one of: a radio frequency signal, global positioning system information, and an optical sensor.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein the devices are wearable devices located on the respective human.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising:
tracking whether the second location meets boundary criteria specified by a second rule for the respective one of the plurality of devices; and
controlling the aerial movement of the drone to move towards the respective one of the plurality of devices based on the tracking.

Assignees

• Ent Services Dev Corp Lp

Inventors

• Kamalakantha Chandra H
• Doshi Parag

Classifications

• B64U2201/104

  using satellite radio beacon positioning systems, e.g. GPS · CPC title

• B64U2201/00

  UAVs characterised by their flight controls · CPC title

• B64U2101/30

  for imaging, photography or videography · CPC title

• G08C17/00 Primary

  Arrangements for transmitting signals characterised by the use of a wireless electrical link · CPC title

• B64U2101/40

  for agriculture or forestry operations · CPC title